Fondue or Salad?
American became known as the “Melting Pot” when people from different countries, having different cultures, languages and religions blend together into their new homeland. ("Credo", 2013) in the early 1900. Since that time the “melting pot” seems to have turned into a “salad bowl.” (“Cultural Savvy,” 2011) Now America is becoming a salad bowl culture. With the melting pot title, every culture immigrating to America blended into one culture. Since then, we have been receiving people from countries that have never been part of the melting pot before. We are now beginning to take on the flavor of a salad. When you have a salad, each ingredient maintains its own distinct flavor apart from each other ingredient. With this type of culture, we have become a nation that is no longer blended as one culture. The reason for this dramatic change in the culture of America is that people relocating to America are not as willing to adapt, and those already here are not as accepting as they once were. Even though out of many one, remains our country’s motto, multiculturalism does not work because one culture is not accepting of another and new cultures do not want to change and adapt.
For many years, people who immigrated to America were mostly of European heritage. These immigrants wanted to become part of the “melting pot” culture. When these immigrants came to America, one would have thought that the first thing they did was to begin to learn the English language although for the first generation of immigrants this was not true. Many of the first generation European immigrants did not want to lose their old way of life. Although, the future generations were not in agreement with this idea. Their desire was to come to America for a better life, and in their mind, in order to do that, they must become part of the culture and were very proud of themselves when they accomplished this. After a few generations, they all spoke English fluently, and had blended in so much so that you could not discern them from anyone else. This immigration took place at a time when our Statue of Liberty was a symbol to the world’s “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” ("U.S. History Pre-Columbian To The New Millennium," 2014).
However, with more recent immigrants coming to America many have no desire to learn to speak English or to become part of the “melting pot.” These new immigrants not only do not want to become part of the existing culture they expect America to adapt to them. We are seeing this now with the Pentagon changing its rules about uniforms. They are now allowing the wearing of turbans and beards for religious purposes. With this thinking instead of remaining a “melting pot”, we will instead become known as a “salad bowl” culture where each culture will retain its own flavor so to speak. As in a salad each ingredient maintains its own flavor and does not blend in with the other ingredients to take on their flavor. The people of these cultures may live in the same proximity to each other, but, they will remain merely tossed together and will not incorporate and blend together as a whole. With a “Salad Bowl” culture you would have within on society many life-styles living side by side where each would have equal rights. With respect for each other ("Proquest", 1995.)
America is no longer the original “Melting Pot” as it once was. Evidence of this would be the commercial that Coca Cola aired during the 2014 Super Bowl. This commercial featured “America the Beautiful: being sung in seven different languages. Coca Cola’s intention was meant to show the diversity of our country. Radio Host Glenn Beck was quoted as saying, “And I said, ‘why did you need that to divide us politically?’ Because that’s all this ad is. It’s in your face, and if you don’t like it, if you’re offended by it, you’re a racist. If you do like it, you’re for immigration. You’re for progress. That’s all this is: to divide people” Sacks (2014.) This thinking is why America has become the “Salad Bowl” we are today. If Americans are offended because every immigrant coming here, has not melted into the likeness of those here before them, then bring out the salad dressing and put the fondue pot back in the cabinet. If the original languages of American were still spoken we would be speaking some dialect associated with one or more of the American Indian tribes as they were the first residents of America.
I have seen issues where in the southern portion of Florida one would think you were in a Spanish speaking country. All of the billboards and signs are written in Spanish, and it is very difficult to find someone who even speaks English. These immigrants do not want to assimilate into the culture of America they want to maintain their own cultures and beliefs. This is also becoming an issue with the influx of Muslims coming to America as well as to other countries. The Muslims do not want to follow the laws of the country they relocate to, and in turn expect that country to adapt to their laws known as Sharia Law. Muslim protesters in London are demanding that shops and restaurants no longer sell alcohol since this is against their Sharia Law (Burrows, 2013.) Immigrants of Muslim religion are also getting the rules relaxed in the medical field to accommodate their Muslim faith. Many women in the medical field are being allowed to wear long sleeves instead of having their arms bare from the elbow down ("The Telegraph", 2010.) This they are saying is a modesty issue for women. Also, they are relaxing the rules which has said that jewelry is prohibited and are now saying that Sikh members can wear bangle bracelets as long as they push them up when they treat a patient. Many in the medical field still worry about the possibility of transmitting disease because of these relaxed conditions ("Mail Online2", 2010.) With the abundant numbers of Muslims immigrating to countries such as U.K. Sweden, and now the United States one might fear that these and other countries will become one day Muslim countries.
America is seeing a vast decline in membership in civic organizations ranging from the P.T.A., to the Elks, and such groups as the League of Women Voters. For American to become able return to being a “Melting Pot”, again the people must come together and work alongside of their fellow brother or sister. In past generations, families would spend time on the front porch and in that way would know their neighbors and would all work together for the common cause. In this day of homes all having air-conditioning, many families now do not even know the name of, or even say a simple hello to the family living next door to them. The front porch has become a thing of the past, many times being blocked from one side or the other by a garage protruding from the front of our homes. If, on the other hand, we can regain the neighborhood unity by developing contact with our next door neighbor and then in turn they come into contact with other neighbors the community as a whole will improve with time. Putnam (2000) stated, in 1829 Thomas Green made this very insightful statement. “We come from all the divisions, ranks and classes of society…to teach and to be taught in our turn. While we mingle together in these pursuits, we shall learn to know each other more intimately; we shall remove many of the prejudices which ignorance or partial acquaintance with each other had fostered…In the parties and sects into which we are divided, we sometimes learn to love our brother at the expense of him whom we do not in so many respects regard as a brother...We may return to our homes and firesides [from the lyceum] with kindler feelings toward one another, because we have learned to know one another better.”
Ultimately, it is becoming apparent that multiculturalism is not a workable plan for America. With new cultures arriving on a regular basis, they are not blending with the cultures, which have been in place for many years. These new cultures, in fact, instead of blending into the “melting pot” want to be an ingredient in the “salad bowl.” With this idea, the new cultures believe that they cannot only maintain their own identity, but also they are expecting that Americans accept and embrace their cultures. Many of the new cultures not only want Americans to adapt and accept their beliefs, but also if given their way, would indeed have many laws changed or written so that we would be changing to their way of living instead of the ways that have been in place for centuries. For a multicultural society to work, each culture must be willing not only to accept new cultures, but also new cultures must be willing to accept the previous cultures, and to blend and adapt to the way things had been before they arrived.

References:
Credo. (2013). Retrieved from http://av4kc7fg4g.search.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:book&rft.genre=book%20item&rft.title=Dictionary+of+American+Government+and+Politics&rft.atitle=Melting+Pot&rft.date=2010-01-01&rft.pub=Edinburgh+University+Press&rft.isbn=9780748635016&rft.externalDocID=11925302¶mdict=en-US
Cultural savvy. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.culturalsavvy.com/understanding_american_culture.htm
ProQuest. (1995). Retrieved from http://phoenix.summon.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/search?s.q=Salad+Bowl+Culture
U.S. History Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/us/38c.asp
Burrows, B. (2013). The Mirror. Retrieved from http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/muslim-brick-lane-protest-muslim-2926404#.Uu1cYBCwJcR